


Dr. Mayday's Sing-Along Vlog

by the_angst_alchemist



Category: Random Encounters - Fandom, youtube - Fandom
Genre: AJ is an emo dweeb, AND I'M NOT FINE, Dark AJ is Mayday, Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog Au, Everyone is bi except Peter, Everything You Ever, I Will Go Down With This Ship, I don't regret this, I finally wrote it, I'm sorry Mark, Lots of blood involved, M/M, Mark is a jerk, Peter is actually straight, Peter is also the sane man, Rarepair warning, Somehow AJ is still a youtuber through all this, Someone had to be Captain Hammer, Thomas Sanders owns a dog, but it's imPORTANT, that's not a main plot thing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-22
Updated: 2017-04-22
Packaged: 2018-10-22 18:40:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 13,621
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10702827
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_angst_alchemist/pseuds/the_angst_alchemist
Summary: A normal guy named AJ tries to be a villain while falling in love. Everything's a mess, since the so-called "hero" won't stop being an absolute jerk.What fun.





	1. Act 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Silvia_Phenora](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silvia_Phenora/gifts).



> I'd recommend playing Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog's soundtrack before watching this, buuuut... Yeah.

Being a villain was hard work, but if it meant he could finally show him that he mattered, then AJ would do anything to get that done.

Even if it included letting his own mask consume him every now and again, making his little YouTube vlog made everything... Easier, almost. Even if it took extra time, it helped him. He had to make it to keep up the persona, and the persona worked well enough that they couldn't see through it to the man underneath. It worked out in the end, no matter what.

And with his newest invention, then he would see.

"Who's 'him' and why do you care so much?" Another YouTube commenter asked in his small livechat. He smiled slightly.

"Well. There's a... Uh... I wrote him a song, if you guys would be alright with hearing it?"

"Of course!" The first response, from someone named Game Theory, said. He smiled. It was always nice to see that fan back, their comments brightened his day every time.

"Okay. Here goes." He linked a backing track in the chat, and coughed, spinning around in his chair to try and figure out how to best be himself on a vlog like this. If he had to do the SONG, then…

No time for that. He had to focus. Focus focus focus.

"Convention day. See you there. Stumbling, grumbling. Wanna say, love your hair, here I go... Mumbling..."

The comments were already reacting. "Wow, Dr, didn't know you could sing!" "You sound like that guy from Random Encounters, do you know him?" Yet all of them were diminished to Game Theory: "Wow!"

"With my freeze ray I will STOP! The world... With my freeze ray I will find the time to find the words to--

"Tell you how. How you make... Make me feel! What's the phrase... Imbecile... Stupidic... Slack-jawed awe... Anyways…

"With my freeze ray I will STOP! The pain..." He smiled slightly, shutting his eyes to think of  him once again. "It's not an ice ray, nor a death beam– That's too Anti, though– I just think you need time to know…

"That I'm the guy to make it real, the feelings you don't dare to feel, we'll bend the rules to our will, and we'll make time stand sti-ill..."

He stood, dancing with an imaginary partner, not even bothering to read the comments this time. He just wished it was with  him.

"That's the plan. Save the world. You and me. Anyday. 'Love your hair,'" he recalled saying. The man turned

"What?"

"I, uh, love the, uh, fair! Hah."

"Anyways," he mumbled aloud, sitting back down. "With my freeze ray, I will STOP–"

"You still working?" Peter's voice called. AJ winced.

"Looks like I'm signing off. Don't worry, I'll read all your comments ASAP. Goodbye for now, and don't forget. Mayday, coming to a town near you!" He turned off the Livestream, and winced. "Worst... Catchphrase... Ever."

“AJ, what’re you--” Peter called, and AJ quickly shed the goggles, lab coat, and gloves. 

“What’s goin’ on?” he replied, trampling his way up the stairs, blocking Peter off from the basement lab. Peter reacted as would be expected: Confusion.

“Geez, do you ever come out of the basement? What do you have down there, some future pokemon game you’re not letting me have?” He laughed slightly, and patted AJ on the back. “C’mon, man. Take a break. Okay?”

AJ sighed, looking back downstairs. “I was working on the next big thing, Peter…”

“You still should take a break. Go to the library, find a good book on music or game design or whatever you’re into these days. You’ve been all weird since you started going down there, okay?”

“Hah.” AJ smiled, and followed Peter out, shutting the door behind him. The “Do Not Disturb!” sign was missing once again. He blamed the cat. Mr. Meowse was a good cat burglar, even if it annoyed AJ and Peter half to death when he stole something that they actually needed. 

At least, he told himself, Mr. Meowse remained by their side and kept working with them.

Even if they were utter idiots half the time. Idiots who had no idea what they were doing except to make their little musicals to make others happy.

_ Does it even make a difference if I release a video or not? _ he wondered.  _ After all, so few people will see and even fewer will make an attempt to change the world because of it. _

But if it got him closer to that one man--

He shook his head to clear it, and looked at Peter. “Alright, alright, let’s go to the library. You’re driving, though. I need to check Twitter.”

“Alright. But I pick dinner.”

“You got a deal.”

Peter climbed into the driver’s seat of their shared car, AJ sitting in the passenger's side seat just seconds after. He gazed out the window at their lawn, which was beyond a mess after half of their musicals messed up everything-- Be it mixing liquids, or throwing huge things around, or simply running on the grass and weeds before it could ever get a chance to grow.

It never bothered him, though, so it didn’t matter. It was a lawn. It would remain that way until something changed other than the bi-weekly mowing. 

Peter pulled the car out of the driveway, turning on the radio, and AJ continued his digression, unfocused on Peter or anything else. After all, to him, it didn’t matter one bit. It was only a normal day. 

One he hadn’t expected to turn out as it did.

He found himself at the library before he could focus on any specific ideas, yet he didn’t smile at the thought of getting a new book to read, even if it was one of the mangas he read in between hours of working on the Freeze Ray Project.

Peter, on the other hand, seemed overjoyed at the thought of getting his own book. He got out as soon as the car was parked and his seat belt was off, his legs propelling him across the pavement without a problem. AJ just watched for a second before he reluctantly released the buckle. Pulling on a hoodie from the back seat, he climbed out of the car. He locked and shut the door before heading after his slightly-younger friend.

“Oh, hello, AJ. It’s been awhile since you’ve been here,” a woman at the checkout desk greeted him. He gave her a small nod, then continued walking, not even bothering to speak. There were other things he had to do. Finding a good Phoenix Wright manga would be especially good. If that was even possible, since those were so difficult to find in the library without being checked out. 

He set off for the young adult section, not even pausing to peruse the new books and the adult literature. No interest there.

AJ’s eyes flittered past the books and the woman sitting at the reference desk, her nose deep in a fantasy book about wizardry and magic. He snorted slightly. How unrealistic. He couldn’t believe that people would rather escape to another world instead of dealing with their problems here, yet he was stuck with that as he waited for anything to change or for himself to be good enough to fix it. He had to keep working. He had to keep going.

For  _ him _ .

He trailed his fingers along the bookshelf, searching for the perfect title, and instead crossed hands with another person. He jumped backwards, the other person stumbling back just the same. 

“Sorry, I--” he started, then looked at their face.

“I’m really sorry, I was just looking--” HE said, brushing a lock of dark brown hair out of his beautiful dark eyes as he smiled at AJ. AJ froze, his throat locking up, then he coughed.

“Er, yeah, me too-- I-- I’m AJ, AJ Pinkerton.”

“Oh! Hey, I know you-- You’re the con guy, right? Random Encounters?”

“Yeah. Random Encounters. That’s the right place,” he smiled, and swallowed nervous.  _ Why is he so pretty? He’s so… Wow. _

“I’m Matt. Matthew Patrick,” he amended, and stuck out a hand to AJ before quickly pulling it back. “Too formal, sorry. Anyways, is there anything in specific you’re looking for?”

“No. Yes. Uh. Have you seen Phoenix Wright? It’s what I’m looking for. Just a book. I mean, it’s fine, I’ll find it myself.”

AJ’s stammering didn’t put Matt off, though. He grinned. “Well, right over there, probably. I’ll see you, then? Just enjoy your book.”

“...Y-Yeah.” AJ nodded, and Matt walked off, humming something under his breath. AJ had to stop and lean against a shelf, trying to calm himself down.

_ He knows me. He actually noticed me. And now he knows my name. Oh my goodness, oh goodness, this is insane! Peter’s got to know, and the fans, they’ll love to hear that I met him-- _

_ No. Keep it a secret.  _ AJ put on a little smirk, and pulled up the purple hood of his sweatshirt, sweeping his hand across the shelf as he searched for the prize he needed. His searching was rewarded with a single book: One on Miles Edgeworth. Better than nothing, he decided, pulling it out and settling down in the nearest chair to read the manga, smiling with the jokes and the laughter the books always had.

He loved the imagination. A world where people weren’t sent to jail for crimes they never did. As if that would ever happen in this world. In the world AJ was stuck in, everyone would fight and everyone would hate and everyone would kill.

He needed to change it. Before Matt had to go out into a world like that, AJ would stab someone.

Not fatally. He cared about Matt, but not enough to break his moral code.

His moral code was simple, as most were. He had those normal rules-- No stealing, no harming others, no being rude-- thrown out the window under very specific circumstances and those alone. Stealing could be done, but only to the cruel and the rich who would not care. Harming others was only allowed if it was in revenge for the same injury, and even then he didn't allow himself to carry out the act. He wanted to punch the so-called "hero" in the face, but he never had the bravery to do so before he was being hoisted into the air, strangled, punched, etc. Being rude was allowed only if the person he was acting rude to deserved it.  
Overall, he cared about one thing: Equality.  
The people deserved justice. They deserved their justice, and he, AJ, would be the one to bring them the justice and the liberty from systems that let the 1% flourish as the 99% died at their feet. He hated those systems, and he had to tear them down.  
His book couldn't distract him from his dreams of a perfect world, even though he had turned up his nose at people just like him, who retreated into fantasy instead of actually working on fixing that world they were stuck in.   
After all, his dream was to fix it, just like everyone else.  
"AJ?" Peter's voice answered him, and he looked up from page 1 to see his bearded buddy looking back at him. "You checked out and ready to go, or do you need to borrow my library card?"  
"I need to borrow yours," he mumbled. "You didn't give me any time to go find mine, after all, so I left it at home."   
Peter sighed slightly, but pulled out a green card, handing it to his best friend. "Keep it safe, alright? I don't want to pay the fine for losing it."  
"You got it."

His feet scraped on the tan-ish carpet, leaving a trail of lighter spots where his shoes were picking up some of the dirt off of the floor. He huffed, and took the card to the main desk, checking out the book without a word.

He shifted his sweatshirt, preparing to head back, when a man and a rather large dog entered. AJ paused, looking at him, then walked up to the man.

“Uh… Can I pet your dog?”

“Of course! No need to ask, she’s a big ol’ softie. Her name’s Sandy.” The man knelt beside her, taking her collar gently in his hand as AJ approached. The dog strained against him, trying to reach AJ, but the man didn’t let her until AJ was ready. “I’m Thomas, by the way. I know it’s weird, but it’s always nice to get some names over Sandy here, y’know? Helps with characters. I’m an actor, so…”

“AJ. AJ Pinkerton,” AJ replied, reaching out a hand to the dog and letting her sniff it before he joined Thomas by her side, rubbing a hand on her fur. 

She felt like new fuzz and sunshine. He couldn’t help but smile just because she was there, and the dog licked at his face before he could scamper back.

“Hah, sorry ‘bout that, AJ.”

“No problem. I really like dogs. I have cats, though, but dogs are cool too.” He rubbed his hand across her back, smiling wide. How did this dog already manage to be so perfect in his eyes?

_ Rule addition: All dogs must be treated well. All animals, then. Domestic ones. Can’t kill a dog or cat unless you have a specific reason, ie because it’s suffering… _

“You have cats? What’re their names?”

“Gotham and Mr. Meowse.”

“Nice names, those ones.”

“Thanks, but I didn’t come up with them. That was my friend Peter.”

“C’mon, I leave you alone for--” Peter started, and walked in to see AJ grinning wide and petting a dog. He paused, then smiled. “It’s been awhile since you’ve smiled like that, AJ.”

“Been awhile since I’ve met a dog as cute as Sandy, too.”

Peter joined him, letting the big girl lick his hand as he rubbed his other across her back.

“I always hear dogs bring out the best in people!” Thomas joked, and Peter nudged AJ. 

“Can’t lie about that.”

AJ didn’t reply. He was already trying to figure out if that knowledge could be used in a plan. He discarded the idea just as quickly: Too much time would be taken up simply petting the dogs instead of training them.

Even if they were cute.

ESPECIALLY if they were cute, actually.

He stood after a moment, turning to Peter. “Ready to head home?”

“Alright, alright. You two take care, okay?” he told Thomas, who kept petting his over-excited dog, laughing slightly as she licked at his face. 

“He’s got it. Let’s go.”

An uneventful, silent car ride later, AJ and Peter had returned home. AJ jumped out quickly, taking his book with him as he ran down into the basement once more, slamming the door behind him.

“Alright. I have to impress him! What do I need still. Freeze ray. Seventy-five percent… Needs wonderflonium…” he sighed. “Where do I get that…” He slid into the computer desk, glancing at the livechat still running on the side. He barely skimmed the questions before opening another incognito tab, typing in “wonderflonium los angeles” into the search bar before the tab had even loaded.

Plenty of results answered him, but most promising was the fifth result: “Wonderflonium transport to take place--”

“In an hour!” He shouted, and jumped up. The door opened as he grabbed the goggles, coat, and gloves, frantically shoving them into a bag. 

“Everything alright down the-- Whaaaat’re you doing?”

“Cosplay!” AJ called back. “I’ve got a cosplay meetup in an hour! See ya, gotta go, bye!” He zipped up the bag, snatched a machine from the desk, and sprinted past Peter before he could protest.

He had to get that wonderflonium. If he were to get the wonderflonium, he could finish the freeze ray, he could… Stop the world for just him and Matt and the books they read, time that they needed to use not passing by at all, just their internal clocks as they sat side-by-side, reading together, laughing…

He smiled at the mere thought.

The bag by his side weighed down on him, but he still grinned, looking ahead. He could already see the truck, yet no one was watching. He threw the machine, and it latched onto the top, activating a signal to his phone. Perfect. He needed that, and it would be easy as pie to use it to take the Wonderflonium for the freeze ray. He settled down, searching for any nearby people, about to duck into an alleyway to toss on the coat, gloves, and goggles, when a familiar voice stopped him.

“Hey, could you please lend a helping ha--AJ!”

“Ah!” He nearly shrieked, then stumbled away. “Ha… Hi, Matt. You startled me.” He glanced at the truck, then back at Matt.

“Could you give a guy a hand? I’m trying to get signatures for a petition for the homeless, but--”

“That’s not a very useful idea. You’re just treating a problem, not curing the disease… There’s plenty of things you could do to fix that, too. But, uh. You know. That’s… a bit odd.”

Matt paused, then grinned. “Well, it might work too. Do you want to sign?”

“Yeah. Okay.” He quickly scrawled his name onto the paper, then resumed typing on his phone. It was almost time for the action to begin. He just needed to get the outfit on…

“Thanks. It’s… Not going all that well.”

“Yeah. Sorry, I’m-- I’m a bit busy right now. Plus you’ve got to get those signatures. See ya at the library?”

“Sure.” Matt nodded. “I’ll see you there.”

He walked off without a second thought, still carrying his clipboard, and AJ relaxed. 

“He… He thought that would work… I’ll do it for him, then!”

He slung on the coat and threw on the goggles, humming a new tune. The gloves were next, as he clutched his phone in one hand. He swallowed, waiting.

“A man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do… Don’t plan the plan if you can’t follow through. All that matters is taking matters into my own hands.” A man loaded a suitcase into the van, and he grinned. Wonderflonium, just what he needed. He hit a button on his phone, and the car pulled off before the man could get in. “Soon I’ll fix up everything… and kindness will then st--”

Another voice interrupted him with a louder tune. “Stand back everyone, nothing here to see!” 

He knew that voice. No one else was as loud, as smug, as self-centered, as purely.... Purely irritating as that man. AJ’s hand that wasn’t holding the phone tightened into a fist with anger. Of course he would ruin his plan to fix the world. Him, the clickbait tool of the world.

_ Why today... _

“Just imminent danger, in the middle of it, me! Yes, Markiplier’s here, hair flowing in the breeze! The day needs my saving expertise…”

“Leave me alone…” AJ muttered, knowing no one would hear.

“A man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do!” Markiplier shouted out, punching his device in, and he jumped off to talk to someone else. A random woman, whom AJ already pitied as he put an arm around her. “It seems destiny ends with me saving you. The only doom that’s looming is you loving me to death… so I’ll give you a second to catch your breath.”

A sigh caught AJ’s ear, and he turned to see someone walking. Matt.

The van was just down the street, hurtling towards him, and Matt--

He needed help.

He tapped his phone screen, but nothing happened. It wasn’t stopping. Matt looked up just in time to see something AJ didn’t want him to see: A man-- no, a villain-- looking back at him. Markiplier, coming from behind, smashed him out of the way, throwing him into a heap of garbage lying nearby, sticking out his hands to stop the car.

The car which, luckily for AJ, stopped just before it reached him.  _ So I could have saved Matt. _

He stormed towards the so-called hero, fuming the whole way. “You IMBECILE! You could have killed this man!” AJ shouted at Markiplier, walking towards Matt, but before he could reach him, there was a hand at his neck, lifting him off the ground.

“That’s not how I remember it,  _ Mayday. _ I should have known it was you-- Bad taste in devices, bad security--”

“You saved me?” Matt’s voice echoed. Mayday nearly cursed, but his breath didn’t allow him to as Markiplier hurled him across the pavement into the other side of the alley, where he crumbled to the ground. Matt spared him a glance of compassion, and Mayday clambered to his feet in an attempt to get back at his enemy. 

“Of course I did. Someone’s in danger, what else would a hero do?” Markiplier bragged. AJ winced. 

“Th-thank you, sir. Thank you so much. I can’t say how important it was that you did that for me… I would be dead, crushed under the bumper… Thank you. So much.”

“Don’t worry about it, but I’ll let you buy me dinner if you’re that adamant on paying me back,” Markiplier joked, nudging Matt slightly. Matt’s face flushed red, and Mayday froze where he stood.

_ Anyone but him, Matt! Why can’t you see? He’s an idiot! _

“Y-you must’ve came from above or something…”

“Are you kidding?” Mayday interjected, but the song Mark started singing drowned him out. 

“Seems destiny ends with me saving you!”

“What heist were YOU watching?!” He snapped at Mark, getting no reaction from his words.

“I wonder what you’re a ‘player’ of?” Matt breathed. Mayday tried to do anything, but the pair just grew closer, holding each other’s shoulders. He could see everything going on between them, how their eyes locked, how Matt smiled…

“Stop looking at him like that, you tool!”

_ He deserves better! _

“When you’re the best--”

“Did you notice that he threw you in the garbage?” He put in, but Matt didn’t notice. 

“My heart is beating like a drum,” he sang instead, in Mark’s tune.

“I stopped the van-- The remote control was in my hand!”

“The only doom that’s looming is me loving you to death…”

“No, no, no, listen--” Mayday tried, but the pair of them were so enveloped with each other that they didn’t even seem to notice him. “W… Whatever!” He snapped instead, grabbing the Wonderflonium.

“So please give me a second to catch my breath.”

He left before they could stop their sickening staring at each other, fleeing the scene with his coat remarkably clean compared to usual, but his heart lying in the garbage where Matt had been thrown.

“Fart.”

 

AJ ducked down into the basement before he could be spotted by Peter, setting the coat on the rack labeled “To wash” and changing out of his now-sweaty sweatshirt and shirt, throwing on a Random Encounters T-shirt and a grin to match as he climbed out of the basement, trying to keep himself going.

_ They’re going to go on dates, and french kiss, and who knows what else, and maybe they’re gonna even play video games together! I’m never gonna be good enough for Matt if he’s in love with Markiplier! What’s the point in trying…  _

He glanced at the door, shut his eyes, and reminded himself of the dreams they had.

Matt wanted to help the homeless. AJ wanted to save the world. Why couldn’t their dreams work in tandem? Saving everyone together, making the world laugh again under fewer rules that hurt and more rules to help…

He hated the rules that held people like Matt back. The rules keeping him from getting the new building he needed for a shelter. The rules keeping him from his dream of helping those folks.

“I promise you, Matt, I’ll help you even when that clickbaiting fool finally falls…”

“Huh?” Peter asked.

“Nothing. Just mumbling about a dream I had,” AJ replied with a smile.

_ Promise. _

**~END ACT ONE~**


	2. Act 2

He couldn’t help it.

He couldn’t help but want to see how Matt was doing, and yet every time he tried to find answers online, he was met with only news of his latest heist and Markiplier’s latest love interest, a somewhat famous youtuber that they didn’t even bother to name.

AJ sighed, and walked outside, trying to make himself move on instead of staring at the camera, complaining for too long about something that wasn’t meant to be. 

_ “It was a success in the way that I got the Wonderflonium, not in the way that I inadvertently introduced my worst nemesis to the man of my dreams. Who knows. Maybe they’re dating. Not like I care.” _

His eyes flickered from the side of the road to the cars streaking past him. “Useless to think about that,” he muttered as they splashed him with muck and water. “Useless to worry ‘bout the little issues… Just… Focus, AJ…” He sighed, and dropped his head, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his now-washed sweatshirt. “Anyone with half a brain can see that humankind has gone insane. It’s to the point where I don’t know if I’ll upset the status quo if I poison the water main…” He huffed. “Listen close to everybody’s hearts--”

“Spare a dollar?” A man asked him. AJ rooted around in his pockets, dropping in a five. 

“Keep the change,” he sighed, then continued on. “You’ll hear that breaking sound. Hopes and dreams are shattering apart and crashing to the ground--” He looked up, his voice catching in his throat at the mere sight of Markiplier and Matt having a good time. Laughing, eating ice cream together, Matt with a book in his hands and reading it out loud to Mark…

“I cannot believe my eyes.” AJ mumbled, staring. “The world’s full of filth and lies… I guess it’s plain to see that evil inside of me is on the rise…” He shook his head, striding towards them, sitting down on a bench and shoving his nose into a notebook he kept in his sweatshirt, re-reading his notes on freeze ray creation.

A sweet voice wafted over to him, and he looked up.

“Look around! We’re living with the lost and found,” Matt told Mark, smiling slightly as he gestured to the people around them. AJ shoved his face back into the book, trying to keep hidden. “And when you feel you’ve almost drowned, you find yourself on solid ground.” Mark stood, taking their trash to the trash can, and Matt laid back on their picnic blanket, smiling at the sky.

“You believe there’s good in everybody’s heart… Keep it safe and sound. With hope you can do your part to turn a life around.”

Mark didn’t return, signing signatures for someone, but AJ smiled, shutting his eyes to better hear Matt’s voice in the air as he remained so soft. 

“I cannot believe my eyes… Is the world finally growing wise? It seems to me that some kind of harmony is on the rise…”

AJ stood as Markiplier returned, the pair locking lips for a kiss. He didn’t want to pry. Too close. Too much.

“Anyone with half a brain can spend their whole life howling in pain… And the dark is everywhere; MatPat doesn’t even care that soon the dark in me is all that will remain…” He sighed, hardly hearing the overlapping words behind him.

“Take it slow; he looks at me and seems to know the feelings I don’t ”

“Listen close to--” he muttered. 

“I believe there’s good in--” Matt sang over him.

“Everybody’s heart!” they chorused.

“And hear that breaking--” AJ continued, but Matt’s voice was there as well.

“And keep it safe and--”

“Sound…” AJ couldn’t even smile at the sound of their unison, even though it sounded nice.

“Hopes and dreams are shattering a--”

“With hope you can do your--”

“Part,”

“And crashing to the ground…”

“To turn a life around…”

“I cannot believe my eyes!” They said together, AJ unable to go any louder than a breath in his heartbreak.

“How the world’s--”

“Filled with filth and lies,” he said, but Matt’s voice carried a brighter tune.

“Finally growing wise!”

“And it’s plain to see…” he started. Matt echoed it instead.

“And it’s plain to see…”

“Evil inside of me…”

“Rapture inside of me…”

“Is on the rise.” The pair finished. AJ turned back for only a second.

Matt hadn’t heard a word of AJ’s half. Just the words he sang in their bizarre duet.

He hadn’t expected him to listen, but maybe… Maybe one day, their words wouldn’t just be a drive-by duet. Maybe one day it’d be an intended duet, sitting by each other in the park, laughing and letting Matt read and doing whatever they wanted to instead of singing a soft song as they passed by each other. 

“Some day,” he breathed. “I promise you, someday, we’ll be where we want to be instead of stuck fighting our own fights in our own little worlds… We’ll be in our own big world, working together, and it’ll all work out, Matt…”

He couldn’t wait for the day when that opportunity arose in his life. It would be the best he could ever imagine, being with Matt. Being happy once again…

But he couldn’t wait too long. It was hard to force himself to try to wait when Mayday would’ve already done something big by now, gaining the view of everyone around, gaining their admiration and their fear.

And yet at that moment, AJ would’ve prefered a quiet afternoon with Matt instead of his plans to build the freeze ray.

He plodded home, trying to focus his mind on planning instead of dreaming, but each second trying was wasted, as he always got back to the “what if I do succeed” thoughts and the dreams of Markiplier finally stopping his abuse.

“Someday,” he promised.

“Can you spare a hand for the homeless?” an unexpected voice asked. AJ jumped.

“Not now,” he eventually said. “I’ve already signed a petition and given money; I don’t really have anything else on me,” he admitted. The woman with the clipboard nodded.

“Thank you anyways.”

AJ tried to walk on. Instead, he stopped.

“But what else can I do to help?”

 

The volunteering at the soup kitchen dragged on, and his hands sweated under the gloves, but he still made it through the day and got back home before it was too late. Enough for him.

Reasons to go on were hard to come across only when he needed them, but as he found the library again and again in his thoughts the following day, he decided to take a quick trip before he continued progress on the freeze ray for Matt.

Just a small trip, hoping to see his friend and totally not crush.

He walked in the door, skipping any interactions with the receptionists, and made his way through the maze-like bookshelves to the back room where the YA books were kept, trailing his fingers along the books as if that could lead him back if he got lost in the paths he trod.

He wasn’t sure that getting lost was impossible in a place like that. Getting lost in a book was possible enough to prove that to him.

AJ loitered near the manga section, searching for anything that popped out at him, and selected a new book in an attempt to distract himself from the issue at hand: Everything. Everything was the issue.

“My nemesis and my crush… Fart… Fart fart f--”

“Oh, hey, AJ!” Matt’s voice interrupted his thoughts. “Funny seeing you here.”

“Hey,” he mumbled, hardly into it. “Read any good books?”

Matt smiled. “Well, not really. I’ve been busy. You’ll never guess what happened to me over the weekend!”

“No, probably not. Go ahead and say what happened, then.”

“You know Markiplier?”

“Town superhero, total- Total awesome guy. Yeah. I mean. I know of him,” AJ replied, trying to seem somewhat normal. He was already failing, but Matt didn’t even seem to notice in his excitement. 

“Well, I know it sounds totally insane, but… We actually went on a date together.”

“Wow, sounds like you had a nice weekend,” AJ replied, forcing himself to sound jovial instead of sulking. “How was it?”

“Well, at first, I thought he was a bit… narcissistic…”

“Trust your instincts on that one,” AJ butted in.

“But then he turned out to be a really sweet guy. People are layered like that-- There’s a layer they show everyone, and then another one that’s totally different.”

“And sometimes they’re like pie, with another layer that’s the exact same as the top layer under that one too.”

“Geez, what did Markiplier do to you? Save you and not stay around long enough to talk?”

_ No, he punched me until I couldn’t breathe. He held me up by only a wedgie. He’s dislocated my shoulder five times, thrown two cars at me, and now taken the one person I care about more than life from me.  _

“I guess you could say that,” AJ replied, noncommittally, and looked in his bag. “So, I know library policy is ‘no food or drinks, but I’ve got some diet cokes-- You want one?”

“That’s my favorite stuff,” Matt replied, and AJ gave him one, the pair sitting down in the back of the library, breaking the rules together.

They didn’t speak; they didn’t have words to say.

Finally AJ broke into the silence.

“So how was the date?”

“Pretty alright. I’ve not really been on too many before.”

“Someone like you? I mean. You’re pretty nice and stuff. Can’t see why no one would want to date you.”

“Hah. I used to think like that too. Now I can see it really clearly. Having been told more than enough times… yeah.” He shrugged. “That’s just me, though.”

They sat in polite silence, until finally Matt spoke up again.

“So, uh, I found this really nice book you might like! It’s one on a pair of online friends through gaming…”

“Sounds like it’s interesting.” AJ stood. “Mind showing me where to find it?”

“Not at all.”

“Thank you so much.”

The pair talked for hours through sips of Diet Coke and passages of reading, leaning on each other slightly but not enough to be uncomfortable. Finally, AJ had to leave, taking the book and his can of Diet Coke with him, a smile on his face and a renewed sense of purpose.

There was so much he had to get done, but there was one thing on the top of his list: Pull off the heist that would make Anti take notice of him.

He already had all he needed. The Freeze Ray was almost complete, the date for the next citywide event was set, and he could go there and cause panic, cause  _ mayday _ even.

The thought didn’t bring as much of a smile to his face as it once would, but there was no time to plan other, more elegant plans. He had to attack then and there, and maybe then he could take over the city, unveil Markiplier for the horrific influence he was…

He could change the world one city at a time.

He would start at home, and slowly, slowly, cause everything to be just as he wished it would be.

One day. One day, he would make it there.

AJ made his way home after their talk ended, walking towards his lab with a laugh and a new spring in his step. He was completely ready to work now, thinking of his goal and his reasons why.

For Matt, he told himself. 

He slid into the basement, shutting the door, and pulled his goggles, his lab coat, and his gloves on, ready to work.

 

The plan was set for that Saturday. A memorial bridge was going to be opening before they even knew it, and he had to try out the freeze ray there before anything else go into his way. For instance, that piece of garbage Markiplier, the so-called hero of the town, and his little cult following.

Mayday walked towards the crowd, swallowing his nerves, and moved forwards, carrying the freeze ray with both hands, polishing the metal on his lab coat, trying to keep himself going instead of wimping out before he got to the mayor. After all, the League of Antis was watching him, making sure he would be evil, devious, and strong enough to join their ranks.

“It’s him!” an unfamiliar voice shouted. “It’s Mayday!”

He grinned at the note of panic in that voice, but the second voice that came from nearby scared him half to death.

“YOU CAN DO IT, MARKIPLIER!”

_ No, no, please, no-- _ he thought, clutching his freeze ray closer to his chest. He hit the button, preparing to fire it. 

Before he could even attempt to, the car hurtled through the air.

“Shoot,” Mayday muttered.

He tried to duck in time, he really did, but before he could even squeak out an “oh no,” the car barrelled into him, smashing him into the pavement, scraping him along like an alligator dragging its prey into the water. He couldn’t breathe. He could only smell the burning rubber of the tires running against their grain.

How he survived, he was unsure. 

He clutched the freeze ray, checking it over with his hands as he weakly clung to consciousness. Before he could even try to flee, the car was lifted, and he was dragged out from underneath by his boots.

“So, Mayday. It’s you, huh? What’re you trying this time?”

“Can I just go home and nurse my wounds,” he mumbled, “since you already threw a car at my head and nearly killed me?”

“Nope. Tell me, what’s going on, Doctor? You’re stepping up, aren’t you?” he narrowed his dark eyes, and released Mayday to adjust his gloves. It was just a fraction of a second, but it was enough time for him to skitter away across the pavement, clutching his freeze ray and his pride close to his chest, trying to breathe under the pressure.

There was no time to try to explain to anyone why he was running. There wasn’t even time to put his plan in motion.

The league was watching, and he had failed them. They would never let him in with such a horrible introduction to them. They would think him a coward, a failure.

An idiot.

Mayday scampered home, ducking into his basement, shedding his costume and looking himself over for new cuts and bruises. AJ was answered with a horrible rug burn on his back, a blackening bruise on his chest, and worst of all, the cut in the back of his head from where it had crashed into the pavement.

“Ow…” he mumbled, poking it to check for blood. Drawing his hand away, he was answered with a crimson hand and the liquid dripping from his hair.

AJ wanted to panic, yet he couldn’t bring himself to. He had much more important things to do.

He had injuries to fix.

He pulled out a first aid kit, and pulled out what he would need from inside of it, trying to keep himself from breathing too hard. He wrapped a bandage around his head, and plastered his back with band-aids to try and keep from wincing at the mere feeling of his t-shirt brushing it.

He looked at himself in the mirror, and forced a smile. It didn’t last long, as the phone rang. The one he kept for times when the League had to contact him.

“No,” he mumbled. “No, no, no, not now…”

Even though he didn’t want to answer, he knew there would only be worse consequences if he didn’t pick up. He lifted the phone from the hook, pressing it to his ear, waiting for the voice on the other end to begin speaking. Anti hated being interrupted, and he was even worse with having to listen to others, even if he was just trying to say ‘Hello’ or introduce himself. 

“We saw what you tried to do today,” a voice that was certainly not Anti told AJ. He sat down on the messy workbench, trying to hold himself up. “And your humiliation only cements our fears about letting you join. If you still wish to join, then you must kill someone. Assassination is the only way.”

“Assassination?” He repeated, his voice shaking slightly.

“Unless you’d prefer the blood on the floor to be yours, then that is your only option. We wish you luck, fellow anti.”

Click.

He clutched the phone, staring at the wall, and tried to find how to breathe through the words he had been told.

Kill someone or die.

“Killing--? That’s-- That’s not my style, that’s not creative-- or, or-- Or elegant, or anything…” he tried to rationalize.

In fact, he was horrified at the mere thought.

Yet it was his only choice, it seemed.

His eyes flickered to the door, and he couldn’t breathe. “Kill someone?” he asked of no one. “Kill them? But who, but why--? I’d never even think of doing that…” He shivered, and forced himself to change clothes in order to not seem as suspicious. He had to clear his head. If sitting and lying down hurt, then he would have to leave the house and look as unsuspicious as possible.

AJ threw on a hat and a Random Encounters t-shirt, leaving his white boots and his lab coat behind, taking his converses and the Phoenix Wright book with him as he forced himself to walk to the library like his lungs didn’t ache with each step he took.

His breaths were hard and staggered, and his feet tripped over themselves with each attempt to move down the sidewalk. Yet he still pressed onwards, refusing to give up. He had to talk to Matt. He had to find a reason why.

The library would have answers. It always did. Especially when his crush awaited him there, leaning on a bookshelf with an open book in hand, smiling at the words on the pages, mouthing along with the jokes and the comments that the characters made. As if he could hear each one, he laughed, shutting his eyes for a second. AJ almost didn’t want to bother him, but he reluctantly did so, tapping Matt’s shoulder.

“Matt?”

“Oh, hey, AJ-- Woah, what happened, did you get hit by a truck?” Matt asked as AJ removed his hat, shifting the bandage. 

“I fell down the stairs,” AJ lied. “My basement’s got a bunch of things I need, and I tripped while going to get them.”

“Must’ve hurt.”

_ Not as bad as it hurt to see you falling for such a jerk. _

“So, uh, how are things? Everything going okay other than falling down those stairs?”

“Yeah. I mean… As okay as it can be.” AJ sighed. “I’ve been trying to get this job for ages, see, and they-- They just turned me down because of one flub-up. I mean, come ON, what’s with that?”

“Yeah… You’re not the only one to get turned down for jobs, AJ, but… I know that won’t help. Just know that everything happen--”

“Don’t say for a reason,” AJ snapped. Matt stepped back.

“Geez, I was just saying everything happens… I mean, it happens even to the best of us…” Matt looked away for a second, as if checking for others, then turned to AJ. “...Here’s the story of a boy who grew up lost and lonely. Thinking truth was fairytale, and trouble was made only for me…” 

AJ settled down, smiling at him, and Matt sat down beside him, taking his hand and holding it tight to remind him to listen and look up at him. AJ did as the squeeze asked, and he was answered with a truer glimpse than he had ever seen before of Matt as Matt smiled at him gently. 

“Even in the darkness every color can be found. Every drop of rain brings water flowing to things growing in the ground…”

“So keep your head up, AJ, buddy…” Matt leaned towards him, then jolted back. “It’s just like what Mark always tells me.”

“...Oh, right,  Mark… So how are things with him, ol’ narcissistic?”

“I-- I gotta go!” AJ jumped to his feet, then shoved the book he was holding onto a shelf.

“Aren’t you going to put that in the right spot?”

“I’ll figure out where it goes when I come back next time! I’ve got a really important appointment, and--”

“Oh, hey, Mark!” Matt grinned, getting up. AJ didn’t move from his spot, stuck on the shelf he had been putting his book back on, staring at the shape which had just walked in the door. Out of everyone who could enter, it had to be him. It had to be the super “hero” Markiplier, everyone’s favorite guy in the entire city.

AJ was frozen with fear.

“Hey, darling. Nice to see you,” he said, walking up to Matt and giving him a quick kiss. Matt stepped aside after a second.

“Oh! This is AJ, by the way.”

“Ah. The library buddy, right? I’ve heard a lot about you.” Mark’s voice was calm, and AJ moved to greet him, his legs shaking. Mark clapped him on the back, leaving him wincing in pain from the roadburn he still had from the earlier car-to-the-head. “You look familiar…  _ May _ be we met one  _ day  _ at the gym?”

AJ’s face froze in an obviously fake grin, but he still forced a nod. “Yeah. Gym.”

“Oh wait. I don’t go to the gym. I’m just naturally like this.” Mark grinned, and roared with laughter. AJ stepped away as Matt piped up.

“I’ll be right back, Mark. I’ve got some books to check out, and then we can go on our date, okay?” 

“You got it, darling,” Mark answered. His voice dropped the instant Matt had left them alone, and he turned to AJ, putting an arm around his shoulders a bit too tightly for his liking. “...So, this is what you do when you’re not supervillaining? Someone as familiar as you… Of course I’d recognize you. It’s nice to see you here,  _ Mayday _ . I have to say, that blog of yours was a big help in tracking you down. You always tend to your pride by seeing Matt, don’t you…?”

“You--?” he breathed. Markiplier laughed.

"Really, your disguise is horrible. Even worse than Josh. I mean, honestly, that was obvious. But you? You're not even covering your face!" Mark chuckled. "So... Doctor... I hear you got a little crush on ol' Matt, huh?"  
"Get off of Matt, or I will personally--"  
"You'll what? Personally get punched again? Personally get hit by a car again? Personally get yourself killed? Come ON, Mayday--"  
"AJ, it's AJ, it's AJ," he muttered, his voice raising as he raised a hand to Mark's collar. Mark grabbed him, nearly sneering at him.  
"I'll give him the best night he's ever had. The best boyfriend he could ever hope for. And if you think you'll ever be anything other than AJ the library ally..."  
"I hate you."  
"Oh, trust me, the feeling's mutual. I’m just doing this because you want him, y’know. And what you want? I get. Because I’m the hero here, Mayday,” Markiplier stated, laughing slightly.   
Markiplier punched AJ in the diaphragm, threw him aside, and left, walking out to follow Matt. AJ was left clutching a shelf to stand, watching him go as his other hand clenched into a fist, his teeth grating on each other.   
They had told him to kill.  
Anti wouldn't let him get his funding, his power, his dreams... All of them were dangled on a string, dangling on the one thing he had to do...  
Kill one man.  
One man.  
Why not the one man who plagued humanity, who toyed with his emotions for fun, who pushed him around every time he even tried to do something...?  
A smile crept onto his face, and he threw his book to the floor, muttering under his breath, keeping his head high. "Oh, trust me, Markiplier. I hate you more than you could ever hate me. I hate you more than the worms hate the birds; I hate you more than the people hate the government; I hate you more than the word hate can convey..."  
This time, not even the lady at the reception desk dared to tell him to "have a nice day."

It wasn’t AJ who stepped out of the front door of that library, but it was Mayday in his place, a broad grin on his face as he stared down the “couple of the year” from a distance, staring lasers into Markiplier’s back, his anger resonating within him more than his dreams and his love.

He knew what that man said.

“You won’t live it down.”

AJ threw his hood off and laughed to himself, looking to the ground before glancing up after Markiplier and Matt, Mark’s arm wrapped around Matt’s waist and holding on just too tight…

Mayday grinned at them, letting the music seize him.

“This appeared as a moral dilemma, ‘cause at first it was weird though I swore to eliminate the worst of the plague that devoured humanity, it’s true, I was vague on the ‘how’ so how can it be that you!” He glared at Mark, and the man turned slightly, giving him a discrete flip-off. “You showed me the light…!” He grinned back, and Mark sauntered on, hardly noticing. 

“It’s a brand new day…” He muttered, striding back towards home. He didn’t have time to wait for Peter to join him, he only had time to walk back home and finish crafting what he had to. If Matt was trapped in a relationship like that, then it wasn’t worth any time to waste; it was worth every second he spent fighting to break him out of that system and free him at last.

“Hah…” he sighed, opening the door and throwing open the door to his basement, clambering his way down to the work desk, throwing off each blueprint for peace and freeze rays, and took out a new paper. “DEATH RAY,” he scrawled in messy print, demanding his attention from the instant he created it on the page. He laughed at the thought of it being used soon, but it mattered more than enough in the fact that it could finally stop that corporate tool from doing what he always had: taking him down, punching him down.

“The sun is high, all the birds are singing ‘cause you’re gonna die!” he laughed, joking around as he strode around, searching for parts. An old mistake of a gun, a joke for a weapon, a few loose parts, twenty pencils he had been searching for and instead bought replacements for when he had been asked to find them by Peter.

He knew what he had to do. He had to off the flipping click-baiter. He had to get rid of him and his tendencies before Matt was made to suffer just as he had.

He didn’t want to see Matt with bruises and pain on his face. He couldn’t stand it.

“All the times that you beat me unconscious? I’ll forgive. All the crimes incomplete? Listen, honestly, I’ll live…” He snarled at a picture he kept to remind him of what he was fighting, glaring at it. “Mr. Cool? Mr. Right? Mr. Know-it-all? You’re through! Now the future’s so bright and I owe it all to you. You showed me the light…” He laughed, walking to the blueprint, smashing the pencil into it and nearly tearing the paper with his sketch as he formed the gun he needed to create. 

A death beam.

“It’s a BRAND NEW ME! I got no remorse! Now the water’s rising, but I know the way. I’m gonna shock the world, and show Anti! Say, it’s a brand new day…!”

Mayday looked at the other picture on his desk, picking it up to better focus. Matt and him, laughing together as they drank diet coke, taking a quick selfie for the road. “Then Matt, he will see the evil me, not a joke, not a dork, not a failure…” He clutched it to his chest, smiling gently. “And he may cry, but his tears will dry when I hand him the keys to a shiny new Australia…!”

He laughed, climbing onto his desk to properly look down on everything. “It’s a brand new day, and the sun is high, all the angels sing, because YOU’RE GONNA DIE!” He stomped on the picture, cracking the frame in twain, and kicked it to the floor, shutting his eyes in his fantasies of getting his revenge on that clickbait twat at last. “Go ahead and laugh! Yeah, I’m a funny guy! Tell everyone you love goodbye! It’s a brand new day…!”

He jumped down, prepared to build, and snatched his goggles from the desk, smashing them onto his face, grinning ear-to-ear. “You’ll see me now, Markiplier. You’ll see where you were wrong. Matt isn’t yours to play, Player. And he never will be.”

“Never again.”

Mayday couldn’t lose this time. He knew his job, his timeframe, his everything. He could plan it in seconds, he could build the gun in hours. Peter wouldn’t know a thing was off.

“It’s all under control this time, AJ. No need to worry.”


	3. Act 3

“It’s a great day to be homeless,” the people on tv told him as he strode past Peter watching the tv. His fists clenched once more, and his teeth grated. Peter stood before he could reach the basement.

“What’re you doing down there? You’ve not been talking to me, you haven’t been letting me in, you haven’t been doing anything but whatever you do down there and coming up with goggles on and work gloves and--” Peter’s voice faltered. “What are you doing. You’re my best friend. You’re terrifying me.”

“...I’m working, Peter,” he muttered, and continued walking. Peter grabbed AJ’s arm, and AJ shook him off.

“I swear. You need to take care of yourself, alright? Take a break. Get some sleep. You’re… You’re just being an idiot, okay?” he sighed. “Please. I know the whole Matt thing is getting you down. I remember how you’d look at him, but just… Don’t do anything rash, okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, nothing rash, promise.” He nodded, and walked off to the basement.

This time, it wasn’t hard. Just loading five things into his bag, crouching under a tarp until the time came, and being ready for action.

He could do that with ease.

He loaded the lab coat, goggles, and work gloves in first as a pillow for his freeze ray and then finally the death ray.

He slung the bag onto his shoulder, and checked the schedule.

“Homeless shelter opening monday.”

Opening today.

He swallowed, and shut his eyes for a second, trying to focus. This was bigger than just a homeless shelter. They were going to have the dedication, the way that they were making a statue for Markiplier instead of putting that money and labor to good use to fix the problems they were creating… He didn’t want that. He never wanted it that way.

There was work to be done; things he had to do before it was time.

He walked upstairs and out the door without a single word to Peter to explain why he was doing what he was going to do. After all, Peter wouldn’t understand. It was bigger than him, and bigger than Random Encounters. It was saving the town from the man who had kept them cowering in fear instead of standing up for themselves against people like him. He didn’t mind the kind citizens who wanted to fix the world-- They were what he loved about the city.

It was the people who thought they should matter more than everyone else who irritated him so much. The people who thought that their superpowers should get them ahead in life when everyone else had to work for it.

The people like Markiplier were the ones he hated.

He strode to the homeless shelter, finding the stone statue under a tarp already, and blew it up using the death ray. It worked wonderfully. He then climbed onto the podium, stood up straight, and pulled the tarp over himself.

No one noticed the difference.

Matt’s voice carried through the room as he entered, and AJ nearly turned towards him before realizing that the movement would draw his eye. “Alright, everyone! The time’s here! We’re saving people today, and we need to remember that. Okay. So… Take a breath. We’re gonna be alright, okay?”

No one else seemed afraid with Matt on their side.

To AJ, that seemed perfect. After all, no one was focusing on the oddly shaped tarp that was nearly shaking with worry and anticipation at the upcoming event. He opened his bag, throwing on the clothes and trying to remain as still as he could. The coat was easy, and the gloves were easier, but he pulled the goggles over his face, trying to hide behind them as he prepared himself.

He could hear people moving, but he didn’t bother himself with moving or listening to their words. The sound of scraping chairs, the sounds of murmuring crowds, the clomp-clomp footsteps of Markiplier in his too-big boots…

He didn’t even have the energy to come up with an insult for Markiplier. All his brainpower was focused on timing and being prepared. He held onto the freeze ray, looking at its power. More than enough battery. He had a plan, they had their own plans, but they’d never know about his until it was in action. There was no way they could tell that he was there, there was no way they would notice that he had slipped in behind their defenses with simply a t-shirt and a smile.

_ How pathetic, _ Mayday thought.  _ They can’t even keep out the one villain in their silly little city. They don’t even know what I’m planning. This’ll be like shooting fish in a barrel… _

Matt’s voice spoke once more. “Okay, everyone, settle down, settle down. I know, we’re all excited, but there’s still five more minutes ‘til the ceremony. If you want refreshments, they’re in the back.”

A flood of people brushed by him, but Mayday still stood strong, glaring forwards at where Markiplier would stand soon enough.

A smile tugged at his lips. Finally, he’d be in the league. He’d be able to have his own lab, funding, and anything he needed. Everything he ever wanted, he could get.

And yet.

The cost still unnerved him, though he tried to hide it.

A life was worth a lot, but if it was him or that man, he’d choose Markiplier every time.

He’d choose him to die.

_ Am I really the one who should get to choose how long he should live?  _ He glanced at the death ray in his hands, picking at the duct tape he had put on as a final touch. It still said something else underneath. He had time to pick his battles.

He could run away before Antisepticeye and Antimatter and the rest found him. He could be hours away before they even spared a glance his way-- After all, they had so many other things they could focus on. They had plans of their own, enemies of their own… Even their own little prodigies.

He was the odd one out.

He wasn’t meant to join, and yet he just wanted to fit in.

He clutched the ray tighter, forcing himself to focus. He needed this. If he was going to make the Freeze Ray good enough to freeze the world and let him and Matt have the time they wanted to relax, then he needed to let one thing pass. 

This was the hard part.

Mayday smiled to himself. The hard part would be over in just an hour. He’d be in and out before anyone could even try to stop him.

Easy as pie.

“Everyone, settle down!” a masculine voice said. The mayor. Mayday knew that voice, it had been one to get him in trouble more than once. Where the mayor was, Markiplier was sure to follow. “I know, we’re all excited. But I know what we’re all here for, don’t worry. In this city, justice has a name, and the name it has-- Other than justice, of course-- Is Markiplier!” There was a cheer at the mere name, and Mayday forced himself to keep quiet as he began to charge the freeze ray, readying it to fire whenever he was ready. “Speaking of, he’s here today to dedicate this homeless shelter! Come on up, Mark.”

“Thank you, thank you, thank you so much,” Markiplier’s recognizable voice answered. Mayday tensed, but remained as still as he could. He wasn’t ready. He had to be completely ready before he could come out from under the tarp. He had to be exactly ready for it… “Now, as you all know, I don’t get involved much with charities. That’s an issue. I should get involved with ‘em. ‘Specially charities like this one, since it’s run by my long-term boyfriend Matt-- Wave your hand, Matt.” 

Matt’s quiet “hello” was nearly smothered by applause and Mark’s voice speaking over him.

“Yeah, kinda nerdy, not my normal type, but he’s pretty good. Anyways, I was talking about charities. I mean, homeless folks? Not too big of a problem--”

_ Then why did we need a new shelter, you imbecile?! _

“But Matt cared, so things got done. You know what? That’s life. We can all be heroes in some way or another, even if I’m the hero who saves everyone here. Even if it’s a small, not-very-heroic way, it’s still your way of being a hero, and that’s important.”

Mayday bristled.

“And maybe one day, one of you lot’ll be just like me. Saving the city with only a wave of a hand and a word.”

The freeze ray was almost ready.

“Everyone’s a hero in their own--”

Mayday couldn’t stand it anymore. He threw off the tarp, and pulled the trigger on the freeze ray, aiming directly at Markiplier, and let out a reluctant laugh only when Markiplier froze mid-sentence. He had done it. It had worked.

His nerves turned into ecstasy as he noted the fear in the air, the feeling of all the eyes lingering on him and the heavy metal in his hands. Every shuddering breath added a new chill as they shivered in the fear they basked in all because of him.

All because of him.

His laughter increased into insanity, and he jumped off of the podium, carrying with him the freeze ray, his eyes darting across the room as his goggles slipped over his eyes, concealing them from locking onto an others, keeping another layer between him and the world surrounding him. He was shaking with excitement instead of fear now; their fear turning him into a ball of excitement. It was time. It was time to put his plans in action.

“Ah… Look at you all, amazing how sheep show up to the slaughter… No one’s condemning  _ you _ , yet you line up like lemmings when he’s leading to the water…” he shook his head at them, grinning under the goggles. “Why can’t you all see what I see? Can you not hear his lies?” He confidently strode to Mark’s side, looking into his glassy eyes. “I suppose the fees might be too pricy for them to realize that your disguise… No, YOU… are slipping.”

He turned on the crowd, basking in their fearful gasps as they recoiled from him. “Now that your so-called savior is still as the grave, you’re beginning to fear me, eh?” He laughed. “Like cavemen fear thunder… I still have to wonder, are you even listening to me?”

Mayday moved forwards, rounding on the nearest man, grasping his chin, forcing him to look into the dark goggles. “I bring you pain, the kind you can’t suffer quietly… Fire up your brains!” He let go, throwing his hands apart, striding back to the death ray. “Remind yourselves inside your rioting, society is slipping. Everything! Everything is slipping away, so...” He turned around, grabbing the ray and firing it into the air in one fluid motion. “GO AHEAD! RUN AWAY!” He yelled, grinning like a maniac. “Say it was Mayday there!”

The crowd split, fleeing around him, and he moved back towards Markiplier as if he was a parent looking for a disobedient child.

He knew he should be saying something. And yet his fear was back, keeping him back, holding him back, dragging him in the lines of the crowd. Trying to run would be the easy way out. He couldn’t just run away, not yet.

“Spread the word! Tell a friend! It’s not a game!”

He stumbled slightly on his words, moving in closer. Closing in like a shark on Mark’s oversized smile, on the liar, the abuser, the issues he had faced. Each of them in one human stood right before him, yet he couldn’t make himself fire that death ray already. He forced himself to continue talking instead, avoiding the end.

“Take a pic; make a song! Heroes are over with!” He declared, closing in. Closer, close, closer… “Look at him… Not a word! Player meet game!”

His voice faltered as he moved in. So close. He was almost there, almost too close to run away. “Then I win. Then I’ll get everything I ever…” He swallowed. “All the cash; all the fame… And the social change…!” He forced himself to wheel around once more, pacing the aisles. No one could see. No one could see his crime except himself and the league. Not if he had a choice. No one but himself to remember the way Mark would die…

“Utopia… That I run! You people will then all learn…!” He forced a grin and pointed the death ray upwards. “This world is going to BURN!” He fired it once, twice, three times, repeating the word, before he noticed a woman sitting in her chair, writing. She had paused. Mayday leaned over her shoulder. “Scorched has a c, not a k. S-c-o-r-c-h… Yeah, there you go. Looking good.” He gave her a small smile, but quickly turned back to Markiplier, firing his death ray once more. “BURN!”

“No sign of Matt…? Good, I would give anything not to have him see… This is gonna be bloody, head up, AJ, buddy, there’s no time for mercy…” He forced his eyes to lock with Markiplier’s once more, dropping the death ray to point it directly at Mark’s face. Mayday faltered.

_ Would AJ do this? Or is this just what I’ve become now, a villain with as much regard for human life as most have for my ideals..? _

_ I need to stop. It’s not too late. Matt would want me to stop. _

He turned to look behind himself, and noticed one other shape still in the room.

“A--” the familiar voice started. A noise interrupted him, one of powering down, and the heat rushed back into the room. He turned around to see a fist hurtling towards his face, and was thrown backwards, his death ray clattering to the floor, his goggles thrown off with the force of the punch.

“WAY!” Mark yelled, throwing up two middle fingers at AJ as he stomped on his stomach, making him draw into himself, wincing in pain. The shape in the corner didn’t move as Markiplier grabbed the gun on the floor, grinning maliciously at the shape stuck under his boot. “Death ray,” Mark read, then chuckled. “Looks like your attempts to kill me failed, Mayday. Let’s see if this invention actually works, shall we?” He pointed the sparking gun towards AJ’s face, and AJ recoiled, bashing his bleeding head into the wooden floor.

“No, no, don’t, please, it’s da--”

“Ah, shut up,” Mark interrupted, stomping on him again. “Give my regards to St. Peter! Or rather, whoever has his job, but in hell!” Mark’s hands thrusted the gun ever close to his nose, and AJ shut his eyes in anticipation of the sound of zapping and his head exploding. He knew what it did.

_ St. Peter. Oh, gods above, I’m sorry, Peter. _

Peter had been beside him through everything. Through each of his mistakes, through each of his flubbed plans, through every failed musical and every successful one that made people laugh.

They had been working so hard for their own dreams, working together, and he had thrown that away.

He braced for the impact, apologizing to Peter as many times as he could mentally. What a horrible way for Peter to find out what he had been doing. Through a death certificate and without any clue why he had done what he had done. With no explanation for his actions, with no help for Random Encounters, not even a will set up.  _ Peter, I should’ve been a better friend… _

Markiplier pulled the trigger, and Mayday winced away at the mere sound of the death ray firing up. It seemed to take a lifetime as it was rounded on him, and he waited for impact and death to grab him and kill him at last.  
It never happened. Instead he was greeted by the sound of a backfire and no pain at all. He opened his eyes to hear crying right in front of him. Mark was curled up on the ground, the ruined death ray beside him. "Ow... OW!" he yelled, then stumbled to his feet, running off before Mayday could say anything. He couldn't even laugh at the sight this time; there was another thing he had to tend to. He had seen Matt just before he had been thrown backwards, he needed to find Matt and make sure he was alright. 

Mayday whirled around, his white lab coat thrusting outwards around him, and his eyes locked onto a small shape hunched by the wall, shuddering only slightly as it struggled to breathe or even move. Mayday stumbled towards it, almost deaf to the sounds of the world around him except for one: Matt's shuddering breathing, stopping and starting, over and over and over.

_ No. No, please. Not him. Anyone but him. _

AJ fell to the floor, almost blind to the world as he knelt by Matt’s side. The wound looked horrible-- A shard of the death ray had lodged in his chest, and he was bleeding out around its jagged edge. He put his hands on Matt’s neck, checking his pulse, keeping his head upright. There was a pulse. There was a pulse, be it faint, be it slow, be it what it was. It was his pulse. He was still alive, if just for now.

“I’m here, I’m here, it’s okay, I swear, just hold on, please--” AJ begged. “Please…” He bit back a sob, and moved his hands so that he was supporting Matt, holding his back and holding his hand in the other. “It’s okay, it’s gonna be okay…”

“AJ?” Matt asked, softly. AJ scraped his nose along his pristine white sleeve, leaving a trail of blood he hadn’t noticed falling in its wake. “AJ… I’m here…”

“Yeah. It’s me. It’s AJ,” he said softly. “Just hold on. Please, Matt… I can’t lose you, this city can’t lose you, no one can--”

“It’s okay,” Matt interrupted, his eyelids fluttering slightly. “It’s okay…”

“Yeah. Yeah, it’s okay.”

“It’s okay… Markiplier will save us… He always does…”

AJ couldn’t breathe. He held onto Matt’s hand, but eventually the gentle grasp Matt returned to him faded away. Alone. He was alone. He was completely and utterly alone. 

Matt was dead, and he didn’t know who was to blame.

He cradled the body in his arms, and held Matt tight, trying to bring him back with just holding him. He couldn’t breathe. He didn’t know what to say.

“Mayday!” A voice called out. “Mayday, you killed him!”

AJ didn’t respond. Holding on tight, keeping himself steady as others joined the first voice, yelling about what he had done.

“No,” he breathed. “No, no, no.” He shut his eyes. Every flash blinded him, every phone camera irritated his eyes. He couldn’t see, couldn’t hear through the loud murmur of the crowd, asking what he had done. Asking why he killed the person he cared about so much. They didn’t know that. They couldn’t know. He held Matt closer, drawing into himself. Everything was loud. Everything was loud, and flashy, and irritating, and overwhelming. He shuddered with the overload. “No.”

“Why did you kill him?”

He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t breathe at all. He held Matt in his arms, shaking. Shaking. Shaking.

He had cared about Matt so much, he had dreamed about so many things, he had hoped so much… Everything he had wanted.

_ You’ve made it now. You’ve made it to the big leagues, _ he thought.  _ They told you to kill someone. You killed someone. You’re in the League of Antis. You’ve done it. _

_ So why do I feel so horrible? _

He didn’t know what to say, or do, or even react with. He lifted Matt off the ground, carrying him, keeping his eyes shut. No one got in his way.

He laid Matt down on the stretcher that someone had nearby, and he shot a glare to the nearest people, who quickly grabbed it and scampered off. He reached his goggles, but didn’t put them back on. Just held them.

He couldn’t feel a thing. Just the cold metal against his face as he pulled the band around the back of his head, the warm trickle of blood from under the bandages greeting him once more as he brushed the spot where Markiplier had knocked him to the ground. AJ-- No, AJ wasn’t there, it was only Mayday now-- snarled at the nearest person as he forced his way out of the crowds that swarmed him, trying to find his reasons why he’d perform such a heinous crime.

They didn’t understand, he told himself.

They’d never understand his reasons or his dreams. They only understood violence and how it affected them. They only understood death and how it made them all worry about those close and nearby, but never those who were truly in need. Never people like the homeless.

Only Matt would see death as a reason to care more, he realized through the knot in his throat.

He couldn’t breathe. He could only choke down tears as he forced them back, glaring as an overcompensation for his emotions and how he wanted to tear himself to pieces for what he did. He strode confidently down the street, his eyes sheltered behind the darkened glass of the goggles he clasped onto his face. His white lab coat was stained red with blood. Crimson. He had never been a fan of crimson. Red, yes, he could see the merits in a good red, but crimson had never interested him, especially not the splashes of it on his white lab coat that were the only reminders of Matt that he still had to hold onto.

Nothing else except a photograph and bloodstains now.

He had no sweatshirts. No drawings. No creations or anything special.

Just the photo.

He didn’t have the heart to look at others. In their eyes he saw flashes of Matt, in their steps he heard Matt’s movement, everything was just a cruel reminder of the act he had just committed.

And instead of knowing what a world he wished for and supporting him, they feared him.

They ran away, they sprinted across the street as he approached, they fled into buildings and ogled at the man in the blood-stained lab coat.

He couldn’t breathe.

The air was thick with silence and fog, weighing down on him and making it hard to see even without the tears clogging up his view. Everything shimmered with the tears he couldn’t bring himself to cry, and he couldn’t see a thing beyond that.

Everything came back to Matt, every time he tried to think of something else.

He stumbled into his home, and Mayday forced himself to the couch, collapsing on it, staring forwards at the mantle and the “RE” that they had put together as a joke. It was meant to make them smile. Yet now he couldn’t even manage that.

He only thought of what would have been.

He couldn’t bring himself to move on.

Peter’s footsteps cut into his thoughts, and he swung his head around to face his friend, his mouth a tight-lipped frown instead of his usual broad smile. He pulled the goggles off, trying his best to not frighten his partner in music away.

“It’s me. AJ.” His voice sounded more distant than he was used to, and he stood, reaching for Peter’s shoulder. Peter stepped back.

“You’re Mayday. You’re that villain. That… That monster. I thought you were my friend, and yet you--” Peter swallowed. “I’m calling the police, right now, I’m--”

“It’s no good,” Mayday interrupted. “It’s no good to even try.”

“No. I’m calling them. They’ll put you in jail for-- For everything you’ve done, and--” Peter looked at his coat. “What…. Whose blood…?”

AJ didn’t want to answer. He looked down at his lab coat for a long moment.

“Matt’s and mine.”

“You… You didn’t…?”

“I killed him.”

Peter stepped away, dropping his arm to his side, looking at AJ’s face. “You… I thought you cared about him. Didn’t you. And yet this is how you do it. You-- You just act like you’re the only person who deserves him.”

“No, I--”

“You killed him because you were jealous.”

“I--”

“You killed a brilliant man, and you don’t even care, do you?”

“I DO CARE, D*MN IT!” AJ shouted. Peter stepped away again, panic flashing across his face before he returned to being a near-expressionless wall. 

“Then do something better than this. Prove that you aren’t just a villain. Do something, move on, and fix the world.”

“That’s what I’ve been trying to do, Peter. Fix the world, one step at a time.”

“You’re ruining it this way.” Peter sighed. “You’re just a villain now, aren’t you? Think you’re so high-and-mighty, I bet… Sorry for bothering you. I’ll leave.” He turned, and walked into his room, shutting the door.

AJ couldn’t bring himself to respond. His hands shook, but he wasn’t sure what he could do.

He forced himself to enter the basement, staring at drawings and blueprints, plans and dreams. They plastered the walls like posters and photographs.

The phone rang. “Antisepticeye,” the caller ID said.

He didn’t pick up.

AJ sat down at the desk, and he glanced up at the webcam attached to the top. There had been so many vlogs, as both AJ and as Mayday.

Which one was he, anymore?

He looked at the plans for the death ray one more time, then at the picture of Matt and him, laughing and taking a selfie for fun. 

And he tore the plans in two.

“Peter!” He called out, running back upstairs, falling multiple times as he scrambled up the stairs. “PETER!”

No answer.

He sprinted to Peter’s door, hammering on it with his hands. “Peter! Peter, please, open up!”

After a moment, the door swung open, and Peter stood there, nearly glaring at him. “What. Is it,” he demanded. AJ peeked around him. The room was an utter mess, with clothes thrown into two piles and a suitcase barely managing to contain the pile of clothes that was layered on top. The floor was hardly traversable already.

“I… I just… I wanted to say something to you.”

“There you go. You said it. Congrats.” Peter started to close the door, but AJ stopped him by grabbing the handle.

“I’m sorry, okay? I didn’t mean to do what I did, and I want to change it. I want you to help me change it. I need you to help me so I can be-- So I can be a better person again.”

“...Why should I help?” Peter asked, reluctantly. 

“Because you’re my best friend, and Random Encounters isn’t the same without you, and because I’d just go back to being Mayday if I was left to try this alone. Okay?”

There was a long pause.

“Because I was absolutely, completely wrong, and you were right about me being a monster now, and I need your help to change?”

“And?”

“And because I need you. I really do. I… I messed up. Big time. I know.” AJ swallowed, looking down at the lab coat he still wore. “I need to get away from what made me do that in the first place, and I need to go back to focusing on Random Encounters because that’s what should matter to me. Okay? Please. Please please please help.”

AJ shut his eyes, swallowing back the knot in his throat. “I’m… I’m so sorry… I’m so sorry…”

A warm embrace stopped him, and he opened his eyes again to see Peter holding him close. After a moment’s confusion, AJ returned the gesture.

“It’s good to have you back to being you, AJ.”

“Yeah. Can we go out for a bit?”

“Only if you change out of that lab coat. It’s gonna need washing before we can use it in any musicals.”


End file.
